Taken from Video Games & Computer Entertainment magazine (hope they don't mind)

Remember The Wizard? The film that premiered last year, starring Fred
Savage of The Wonder Years? The Wizard had everything - great stars
(besides Savage, there was Beau Bridges and Christian Slater), great lines
like "Keep your Power Glove off my girl," not to mention excellent product
placement (Nintendo galore). In fact, had there been an Oscar category for
"Best Product Placement in a Theatrical Film" The Wizard would have won
hands down.

The movie's plot centered around Fred Savage's character running off with
his little brother to compete in a nationwide Nintendo competition. It turned
out that his quiet sibling was not only an excellent Nintendo player but the
best in the world. Of course, all this stuff about a Nintendo tournament was
purely fictional.

Or was it? Earlier this year, Nintendo of America announced the Nintendo
World championships, a nationwide tour encompassing 30 major cities in the US
and Canada. At every stop, the best Nintendo players would compete in a
specially designed triathlon game pak. Local area winners would then be sent
to Orlando, Florida, to compete in the finals championship to be held and
televised at Universal Studios (the company that financed and marketed The
Wizard).

The premiere of the Nintendo World Championships (NWC) was held in Dallas,
Texas, March 8-11. Naturally, since this was the first city to play host for
the tour, there was a lot of local area hoopla and publicity about it. And
they were determined to make sure that nothing would go wrong.

A good time was had by all. Everybody came out happy - Nintendo, the kids
and their parents.. well, most of the parents.

As the VG&CE writer who lives in the northern region of Dallas, it was my
assignment to cover the event. My intention was to cover all four days of the
event from several angles - to provide a glimpse of what it was actually like
to be there. Armed with copies of the latest issue of VG&CE, I wasn't just
ready to fulfill my assignment - I was prepared for Nintendo Armageddon.

- Tuesday, March 8

This gargantuan event requires the largest convention facility each host
city can provide. Dallas' Fair Park's Automobile Building fits that order.

The building covers the area of two football fields. This fact is pretty
obvious - an inflatable Mario, looming three stories tall, greets everything
at the building's entrance.

The first thing I see - well, run into - is the &quotPower Walk": a
conglomeration of NES game booths displaying some of the newest, yet-to-be-
released titles, including Rescue Rangers, Astyanax, Rocket Ranger and Super
Spike V'Ball. Recently released titles like Robocop, Batman and Baseball
Simulator 1.000 and sequels like Double Dragon II, Bases Loaded II, Ninja
Gaiden II, Castlevania III and Super Mario Bros. 3 are available for
everybody to sample.

Overhead, huge blowup figures fill the sky. An inflatable Bat logo hangs
over Sunsoft's section of the Power Walk, where they're appropriately showing
off their newest NES title. Jaleco has a Bases Loaded II emblem; Data East
suspends a blowup Robocop doll who looks like he's been hung at the gallows;
Seika has Bugs Bunny; Tecmo proudly displays a ninja that resembles Donkey
Kong; and then there's Nintendo itself with Mario and Luigi. It was the
invasion of the Nintendo inflatables.

As if these 130 NES game stations aren't enough, there's another section in
the building with Game Boys to play. Located diagonally across from the Power
Walk, these Game Boy displays are the same in retail stores - except there
are 200 of them arranged in multiple aisles.

At the other end of the Power Walk is the NWC Super Stage, where -
according to the NWC guidebook - the attraction include "Nintendo Game
Counselors with answers to the most asked game play questions, in addition to
their favorite 'pro tips.'"

Right across from the Power Walk is a video stage where kids can make their
own rap video. This attraction is sponsored by the Thomas J. Lipton company,
who make Nintendo Real Fruit Snacks (chewy, bite-sized Marios, Koopas, Zeldas
and Links in a variety of fruit flavors). The stage is made up to look like a
scene from Super Mario Bros., complete with plush turtles, Goombas and other
colorful characters from the game. Participants move to the beat of a rap
song, lip-syncing the lyrics.

All of this is lovingly captured on videotape by an operator who zooms in
and out along with the repetitious beat. The end result looks bad and goofy,
but the few brave kids who engage in this kind of production appear to be
having a good time. Those definitely enjoying themselves are the people who
have gathered to watch, gnawing on free samples of Real Fruit Snacks. As if
to show us all how to do the Mario rap the "right" way, Mario himself (a
short guy wearing a cephalically bloated costume) goes on stage to demonstrate.

Across from the Game Boy section is the VIP area. Most of the VIPs are men
and women dressed in dark business suits, but a good number are kids, too,
who are probably children of close associates of these adults. Overall, the
scene looks more like a convention of bank executives.

At the end of the Automobile Building is the main attraction - the NWC
Competition Arena. It's a stage with two huge monitor screens. Toward the
front are six NES competition stations with monitors for both players and the
audience. Between the enormous screens is a "throne" for a seventh player to
sit while playing. Behind this stage are 102 more game stations.

This is how the event basically works: After signing up, participants are
led to the NES stations backstage to play the NWC triathlon game pak. The
seven high scorers are then taken onstage; the one who scored the highest
gets to sit on the throne. They then play the triathlon again - but this time
there's an audience watching and an announcer blaring how game play is
progressing.

Those who attain a certain score within their age category qualify for the
semifinals competition to be held on the following Saturday night. That's
when the Wizards from each of the three age groups will be determined. These
competitors also receive an NWC t-shirt with the words "OFFICIAL SEMI-
FINALIST" written in bold, black letters across the back.

At about a little after six o'clock - the actual opening time for the NWC -
the general public stats milling in. It's at this time that the press corps
starts going into a frenzy. Virtually all the local area newscasts arrive,
lugging their video camera equipment and bringing model-like reporters.
Photographers run rampant, too, snapping photos of everything and anything,
with telescoping camers equipped with powerful flare-like flashes.

A reporter asks a kid for a brief interview. Not realizing what he's about
to get himself into, the kid agrees. He's then promptly blinded by video
camera lights and barraged with questions asked by the reporter, who aims the
microphone right in his face. It's at that moment that the poor kid loses any
ability he once had to articulate the English language properly.

- Friday, March 9

Today the NWC opened its doors at three in the afternoon - just in time to
welcome kids getting off from school.

What was yesterday's VIP section has now been converted into the Parent's
Oasis, a sanctuary for moms and dads who want a much-needed respite from the
Nintendo gala. Now is the time for me to do some interviewing. I approach the
competition stage and wait for the first group of competitors to come down.

I lightly tug at his shirt. "I'm with Video Games and Computer
Entertainment..." I flash a copy of the recent issue of VG&CE to him. "..
Mind answering a few, brief questions?"

"Sure," he responds.

I give him the magazine to keep, softening him up for the interview.

He's eleven years old. His score in the event was over 300,000 points. When
I ask what he thinks about the NWC, his response is a subtle, "It's great."

In fact, most of my interview subjects describe the NWC as "great." The
number-one bit of advice for the NWC triathlon was to "practice Tetris,"
although one man, a 39 year old father, advised the younger crowd to "do your
homework first."

The highest scores in the triathlon event seem to get higher and higher as
the hours go by. First a score of a little over 400,000 points is the record
holder. Then it's 500,000+ and 600,000+.

Competition on the stage is fast and furious. The announcer's frenetic
voice calling out a running commentary of all the participant's plays,
coupled with the constant switching of each of the player's game screens onto
one of the two giant TV screens, makes the event nerve-racking. And that's
just for those of us watching it. For the players themselves, it probably
really is.

"Oh, I can't believe all the great players we have here! Whew!" overreacts
the announcer. You'd think he was the one competing.

- Saturday, March 10

While heading toward the Super Stage, sounds and lights come alive, and an
announcer comes on stage. He introduces two game counselors fro Nintendo's
Seattle, Washington, headquarters. A pair of men come onto the stage wearing
flashy "Nintendo Game Counselor" jackets.

"Well, I used to work at Safeway," one of the men answers as to how he got
his job. "Then I came across this ad from Nintendo for people to be telephone
game counselors." This is the Counselor's Corner segment of the shot. "Does
anyone in the audience have a game question for our counselors?" asks the
announcer.

A boy raises his hand, and the man goes up to him with his microphone, a la
Phil Donahue.

"On Shadowgate, how do you get past the guard dogs?" the little lad
inquires.

One of the game counselors proceeds to answer, giving a thorough breakdown
of the video-game dilemma. Inarguably, these guys really do know their stuff
quite well.

It's all wrapped up by the Top 30 most popular Nintendo games countdown.
Now the show becomes like an American Top 40. (The number-one NES game, by
the way, turns out to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.)

A few minutes later I notice a guy near the Power Walk .. it's Howard
Phillips of Nintendo, star of the 'Howard and Nester' comic.

I then immediately take off after the Nintendo bow-tied spokesman, quickly
putting together brief questions to ask him. I introduce myself. He calmly
agrees to answer my brief interview questions. He commented on how positive
the resonse to the NWC has been so far, how much of a 'family atmosphere' the
event turned out to have and the surprising female contestant turnout.

I then go into the question that personally interests me. How did he get
this job?

"Well, I'd been working for Nintendo since '81, starting in the warehouse.
When the company grew, I was in a position to give feedback on their
projects. And I guess they liked what I did, so I grew along with them," he
tells me.

- Sunday, March 11

Today's the last day of the Dallas leg of the NWC tour, which means the
semifinalists competition. Before this evening's over, the Dallas Nintendo
Wizards from each of the three age categories will be determined.

The first thing you notice is that there are an awful lot of semifinalists.
The kids in the 10-and-under age group, most of them wearing their "OFFICIAL
SEMI-FINALIST" shirts, stand in two lines that stretch from the competition
arena all the way to the other end of the building, where the Super Stage is
located. Surprisingly, within the next half hour all the semifinalists in
both lines are processed. Efficiency has played a big part in the NWC
organization during these past four days.

Another half hour later, Howard Phillips goes on stage. After that, the
seven top-scoring semifinalists come on stage, where Phillips gets their
names and asks if they have any triathlon game hints and tips to offer.
"Practice Tetris," "Go fast on Rad Racer," and "Get 50 coins on Super Mario
Bros. fast," summarizes their words of wisdom.

The announcer takes over, and once the semifinalists take their places at
their game stations, the competition starts. These first few minutes are
tense, since the kids playing are all very good. The audience crowds toward
the stage, anxiously watching. They cheer when the first players complete the
first part of the triathlon, Super Mario Bros., reacting the same way when
they finish the Rad Racer portion.

The most excruciating moment comes when all the competitors are playing
Tetris. This is when luck comes into play - the factor that will determine
who the top two will be. The scores for all the players are very close to one
another.

Once the time limit on the triathlon game paks simultaneously goes up, NWC
roadies in blue jumpsuits carefully record the final scores and determine the
top two placers. The two boys who place are cheered on by their families,
friends and people in the audience, and the announcer has now become slightly
hysterical. Those who didn't place are given autographed copies of Super
Mario Bros. 3 and commended by Howard Phillips for playing well.

After a 3-minute rest period, the last two semifinalists begin the one-on-one tournament. The audience watches intently as camcorders and news cameras
record the showdown. The announcer yells out "Whew!" several times while
giving his play-by-play.

In the end, the winner, Peter Carter, is seen on one of the two giant
screens - with a score of 280,190, much lower than previous points earned
(the overall record was well over 840,000). The audience cheers. His photo is
taken with Howard Phillips, who presents him a golden trophy. A
representative from US Videotel (a local area telecommunications service)
gives him a check the size of a flying carpet for $3333.33. His parents get a
car, and what's more, he gets to skip school and go to Orlando, Florida, to
compete in the finals competition this fall. When asked how he feels, Peter
says he couldn't sleep last night because he was too excited, and it looks
like he won't be getting much sleep tonight, either.

After the celebration ends, the audience reduces in size somewhat for the
upcoming semifinalist competition for the 11-17 category. Like their
predecessors, these young men are submitted to a similar questioning
procedure by Phillips.

Howard Phillips wishes the last seven top-scoring semifinalists of the
11-17 age group good luck - I wonder if they'll need it - and the announcer
returns to the microphone.

"Get your hands on your controllers, and assume a comfortable position," he
advises the young men. Except for the high scorer, who gets the throne, there
are no chairs provided for the other six competitors to sit on while they
play. And so the final contestants crouch down for their supreme battle.

"Let's play some Nin-tendo!" proclaims the announcer, and the competition
begins.

Our assistant editor Donn Nauert conversed with Howard Phillips, senior
editor of Nintendo Power magazine and spokesman for Nintendo of America, on
the floor of the NWC. Mr. Phillips commented that he had made over 900,000
points at one time on the triathlon event.

How could he have possibly have done that when the average scores in the
comptition averaged from about 300,000 to 400,000 points? Only one or two
players had earned scores of about no more than 850,000. Could he have found
an easter egg?

To understand how this easter egg works, a knowledge of the specifics of
the NWC triathlon event - including how scores for the three games are
accumulated - is necessary.

The special game pak for the NWC competition contains modified versions of
Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer and Tetris. The object of the contest is to
complete certain requirements in these three games within a 6-minute time
limit. Your overall score is totaled from how well you do in each event.

SMB - The object here is to collect 50 coins as quickly as possible. Using
a watch, our associate editor estimated that it should take no more than a
minute and 20 seconds to collect 50 coins. The higher scoring competitors
were able to gather the 50 coins in just over a minute of play.

Rad Racer - After a 20-second delay of screens congratulating you on
completing the SMB portion, it's off to Rad Racer. Maintaining a speed of
over 200 km/h is the advice given by Phillips. Completing this event as soon
as possible, which sends your car into a 'power slide,' is essential because
it takes well over 2 minutes to finish the race. Points scored in Rad Racer
are multiplied by ten during the final tally.

Tetris - This is where all the big points are earned - your score on this
game is multiplied by 25. Thus, the time you saved by completing SMB and Rad
Racer can pay off quickly here. On average, though, players get the same
amount of time to play Tetris as they did in Rad Racer. Those familiar with
this game know that at times Tetris can be more of a game of luck than skill.
Because of the 25-fold increase in points, high scorers at the Dallas NWC
were taking big chances - building up dangerously high structures in the
hopes that a 4x1 piece would fall soon, enabling them to fill four lines at
once for huge amounts of points.

An now, how the easter egg works:

SMB - Gather anywhere from 45 to 49 coins, but don't get 50, or you will
automatically be sent to Rad Racer. Quickly play the game up to level 1-2,
and warp to 3-1. From there, perform that well-known trick where you can
block a turtle, enabling Mario to continuously jump on its shell. This will
drastically inflate your score. The key to this easter egg is once you
receive 8000 points for a jump, you need to get off the turtle without
him sliding past you. This will reset the count so you can continue to rack
up points; you don't receive points for 1-ups.

Continue doing this even when your fellow competitors are well into playing
Rad Racer. When you see one of the going into their 'power slide,' have Mario
gather the last couple of coins you need and advance to Rad Racer.

Rad Racer - The 'legal' details above to Rad Racer apply for this easter
egg as well. But when you're racing your car to the finish, the other
competitors should now be building their rows of blocks on Tetris.

Tetris - As soon as you arrive at this event, there will be less that 30
seconds left on the competition clock. Go ahead and lay down your blocks;
there's no need to hurry to complete any lines.

Once the timer goes up, your tabulated score should be over 500,000 points
- maybe higher, depending on how often you scored while hopping on the
turtle. However, a skilled player who competes adhering to the 'legal'
technique should earn 300,000 to 400,000 points. What happened here? Even
though the triathlon game pak multiplies your score on Tetris by 25, the rate
at which you could earn points in SMB can increase your overall score
enormously.

Is this considered cheating in the NWC competition? That's difficult to
answer because there was no official rule sheet provided!

At one time on stage, Mr. Phillips did state to competitors that they had
to play all three events in order for their scores to be legitimate. Yet,
what does 'playing' technically mean? Couldn't setting down just one block
during the last five seconds of Tetris be considered 'playing all three
events'? Without a doubt, the NWC's lack of a detailed set of written
competition rules has opened up numerous ambiguities that could lead to
contested rule judgments.

What can be done to prevent abuse? The answer is simple. The triathlon was
probably tested under the natural assumption that competitors would play it
the 'right' way. The game testers concentrated on making sure the contest
was 'competitive,' forgetting to look into the possibility of alternative -
and 'less conpetitive' - ways of earning points. It was later stated that
simply finishing a lap of Rad Racer would qualify you.